Almost Turkish Recipes

Salame di Cioccolata (Mozaik Pasta)

I am not sure where this absolutely delicious and extremely-easy-to-make mosaic cake recipe comes from; I guess it's originally Italian, but yet I don't have any source to support my idea. (After reading Ilva's comment, I did a research and became sure that Mosaic Cake is Italian; I even changed the post title to original Italian name.) Mosaic cake was very popular in Turkey 10 to 15 years ago. Since then, it has been forgotten, though it's still my #1 cake (#2: plain cheesecake, #3: carrot cake). My mom never made this cake, because the recipe requires raw eggs; she thought it wasn't healthy. I had to search for this recipe and I found it from my friend Özgür. Since he's a food engineer, I assume we're all safe!

1 pack of le petit beurre. [Le petit beurre is a thin, small, rectangle biscuit first made in France by the founder of LU company. They're great with tea: you have to dip it very fast, though! You can find them in the international food sections of big stores or in international markets.]

-Melt butter and let it cool down. In a bowl mix well sugar, eggs, butter, and coco.
-Crumble biscuits into this mixture. Mix all and pour this mixture on a plastic wrap. Roll it as a big candy as in the picture above. Put it in freezer for an hour. Cake will be firmer in an hour so you can give it whatever shape you want: round, triangle, or square.
-Mosaic cake is served cold so keep it in the freezer.
-Serve it on its own or with ice cream.

In France we do it slightly differently: we make it very tubular and rub on it some icing sugar and serve it on a wooden board to make it look like a salami as much as possible. Children love to see who gets tricked by it by expressing some concern about eating meat at the end of the meal.

I was going down your main page looking for the recent lemon dessert to report on the Turkish tea biscuits I told you about when I saw this: as Ilva remarked, it is called salame di cioccolato in Italy and its popularity is due to the fact that it requires no cooking. I don't remember whether my mother ever made it. The recipe I know uses chocolate instead of cocoa, no nuts and a bit of rhum. The Mio Fiore tea biscuits were soft, instead of crunchy, though that could be a storage problems. They are also thinner than Petit Beurre, which may make them unsuitable if you want a cookie with more body. They have no butter, so they are lighter than Petit Beurre: in summary, I see some potentials, but crispness is required.

You really got me into the mood for making this dessert again. Just wanted to clarify that the recipe I know is just one of many variations: with cocoa or chocolate, with or without nuts, with or without other flavorings. I guess that is one of the reasons for its success, beside the relatively easy procedure, that is can be made in different ways and still taste good!

Hello!This dessert was very popular in Greece too in the 70's. My grandma would make it for me and I still have the taste in my mouth. I didn't know it was Italian. Always thought of it as Greek, but that's us Greeks I guess!

Anyway, I am a member of the Foodie Blogroll (Food Junkie not Junk Food), so you can find me there.

this recipe brings back so many memories..i remember have it at parties when i was younger. i love it..we would make it with 'marie' biscuits and no nuts. but i would like to see what it tastes like with nuts. thanks burcu.

This, definitely, is a Turkish desert. My mom always had this in her menu for her tea parties. And you can only make this desert with Turkish tea biscuits. No other kinds of biscuit will do the same. Another proof is that my very good Italian friend, Alessio, does not know anything about this desert! Though I do not know if it is about the region where he is from or not! I always make "Mozaik" cake. Very easy. However, the original recipe I have differs from the one in here. Here is the "easiest" original one: 60 g unsalted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cold milk, 5 tablespoons of cocoa(dark is better), ~400 g of Turkish tea biscuits(Eti Petit beurre biscuits), any nuts (optional). Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Brake the tea biscuits into small pieces with some chunks and mix with the other ingredients. Pour this mix onto a waxed paper and roll it. Give the mix the shape of mosaic or ellipse. Keep in the freezer for ~4 hours. Slice and serve it cold. Enjoy:)

hello! how small the world is after all! just like the stuffed cabbage leaves this recipe is very common in Easter Europe.In Romania we mofdify the recipe for the Lent;at this time is simply made from bisquits,cocoa,water,sugar,rum essence,turkish delight marbles or nuts.For a nice touch we roll it in coconut or cocoa.

Hi, I just found your blog. Thanks for great recipes. The recipes look like the kind my mom used to make. I'm a Turkish woman of sephardic jewish origin living in U.S. I grew up eating this cake. We called it "gateau salam". We had birthday cakes made out of this cake. We used to make it with raw eggs, but I now make it without them. I can easily find turkish petit beurre cookies in U.S. Thanks again for great recipes.

So glad to see this as my kids are missing it. If you are ever taking requests, We really miss "Elma tarti". They are like mini apple pies/ apple cookie. A Nice yougurt type pastry dough with apples and walnuts in the middle. Love your blog!